Saturday, March 8, 2014

Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #52

Hi, everyone !!

Without a shadow of a doubt THE BIGGEST NEWS STORY during the past week, at least in terms of Roku-related news, WAS THIS ANNOUNCEMENT which came via the "Official" Roku Blog on Tuesday 4th March 2014. Essentially it provided official confirmation of the news I revealed to you this time last week, in my 'Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #51', concerning the possibility of a new Roku product on the horizon in the shape of an HDMI Streaming Stick. As we now know, the information provided by Dave Zatz of 'Zatz Not Funny' has proven to be correct, as evidenced by the product images from the "Official" Roku UK Website, shown below:-

HINT: Click on the above image to ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!

Now, I fully intend to look into this new Roku product in greater depth at a later stage but, for now, I'd just like to confirm that IT IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER to UK Roku purchasers in advance of it's April 21st release date VIA 'Currys' AND 'PC World' AS WELL AS 'Media Streaming Market' who are responsible for handling all of the purchases from the "Official" Roku UK Website. The cost to UK purchasers, of this latest media streaming device from Roku (Model 3500EU), is £49.99 and this should be the same price you'll find 'in-store' once the official release date (21st April 2014) arrives. Bear in mind that, if you do pre-order, your NEW ROKU STREAMING STICK (HDMI version) is unlikely to be sent out to you until the official release date, anyway, so you may just want to wait.

Meanwhile, in addition to a brand new Roku product, we've also had some more new readers coming to the pages of this blog. Once again there were many repeat visits from the various countries that I've mentioned in previous posts but, this time around, there was justonecountry that had not yet graced the pages of this blog until now. So, before we go any further with the current 'Weekly RoundUp', I'd first like to extend a warm welcome to those new readers from Côte D'Ivoire (perhaps better known to you & I as the Ivory Coast), who each paid a maiden visit during the past week.

To those new readers, and to everyone else who continues to read my Roku-related ramblings here on this blog, I'd just like to say... "Thanks for stopping by" & long may you continue to do so.

Anyway, let's now press on with the details for the current 'Weekly RoundUp' of NEW ADDITIONS to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store. This time, there are THIRTY NEW CHANNELS which have been added during the past seven days. These latest additions to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store provided FRESH CONTENT to the Film & TV, News, Weather, Sport, Music, Internet TV, International, Food, Special Interest, Screensavers & Apps, plus Religion & Spirituality genres.

In keeping with previous installments from the 'Weekly RoundUp' series, details of these new channels have all been listed below, together with links to obtain further information {by clicking on the channel name(s) beneath the respective channel icon(s) as pictured} and to read a 'Roku Guide' review (where available) with an independent (slightly more expansive) assessment of each one:-

So, unless you were hoping for an extra 'Game' channel to add to your UK Roku player, or (perhaps) even another app pertaining to 'Photos & Videos' with which to further improve your personal use(s) of/for the streaming media player... then I'd say we've pretty much got all the remaining options covered with these NEW ADDITIONS to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store.

Anyway, like it or not, thatis your lot for this week and, whilst it doesn't quite the match-up to the forty-three channels which made it into the "Official" Roku USA Channel Store during the same time-frame, I always think it's better to have SOME NEW CHOICES than none at all, don't you ?!!

Still, hopefully everyone in the UK with a Roku player managed to find something they like within the thirty channels outlined above. If not, then you'll just have to pay us a visit another time when, with any luck, there will be something more to your liking. Afterall, there's no point installing every channel because, as I've said before, when it comes to adding new channels to your Roku player, IT'S YOUR CHOICE and, as with all things Roku... THE CHOICE IS ALWAYS YOURS !!

*********************************************

In the meantime, for my last thirty 'Weekly RoundUp' posts, I have been suggesting we spare a thought for all the poor folk who handed over their hard-earned cash for one of those NowTV Boxes [Powered by Sky] which, as you may recall, have (so far) totally failed to live up to their full potential. Likewise, the original promise from NowTV of "more apps being continually added", is yet to be adhered to, since there has been ONLY ONE NEW CHANNEL ADDED to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box SINCE THE PRODUCT LAUNCHED. Moreover, seemingly not content with the lack of output from their own Roku channel developers, the executives at NowTV / BSkyB appear to be plotting a similar halt to proceedings in the channel store on UK Roku players...

Meanwhile, it's likely to be of no surprise to any of you that (as with EVERY WEEK BAR ONE since it was launched) there has (once more) been literally NO ACTION in terms of NEW ADDITIONS to the Roku Channel Store selection on the NowTV Box. What this means is that, over the course of the past week, NowTV have (again) produced a (NOT SO) GRAND TOTAL of ZERO NEW CHANNELS to add to their (already SEVERELY REDUCED) version of the Roku Channel Store as included on their NowTV Box. Meanwhile, the "Official" Roku Channel Store that features on all UK Roku players has added a further THIRTY EXTRA CHANNELS during that same period of time. To keep things firmly in perspective, in the thirty-two weeks since the launch of the NowTV Box, there has been a total of THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE EXTRA CHANNELS added to the Roku Channel Store on UK Roku players, as compared with ONE EXTRA CHANNEL being added to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. That, surely, must tell you something ?!!!

Like I've said in previous weeks, it seems to be a case of one step forward and two steps back when it comes to the meagre selection of channels available in the Roku Channel Store which features on the streaming media player from NowTV. To illustrate my point... from the moment that the NowTV Box was launched, they have managed to completely lose 'WatchIndia' and 'USTV Now', with '4oD' being the one & only channel added to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box since it launched !! The good news for NowTV Box owners is that, during the past week, the 'Havoc Television' channel (which had been 'AWOL' for months) and the 'VEVO' channel (which had been missing an "official" Roku Channel Store category on the NowTV Box for a similar period) have both found their way back into the 'Music' genre (i.e. category) of the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. Likewise... another channel which had been lacking an "official" Roku Channel Store category on the NowTV Box for quite some time, namely 'HooplaKidz Rhymes', returned to "Internet TV".

Fortunately, this means that there are now 48 CHANNELS to be found in the NowTV Box version of the Roku Channel Store PLUS the 'NOW TV' and 'Sky Store' channels which (once again) brings the overall total back to fifty channels (as there were at launch), but (let's not forget) those twoareonlythereby default and not included with the apps (i.e. channels) in the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. So, leaving aside the "Most Popular" channels and any additional channels listed under "My Channels" (as I do with my channel count for the Roku player), when it comes to the actual Roku Channel Store categories on the NowTV Box, there remains (as mentioned above) no more than a paltry 48 channels in total, compared with 825+ in the channel store on UK Roku players !!!

Bearing this in mind... whilst the NowTV Box won't exactly leave you out-of-pocket, if you are after a streaming media player which can genuinely boast of "more apps being continually added" and is a lot less likely to leave you wanting by the time you settle-in for a family movie over Easter, then I strongly advise you to do yourselves a BIG FAVOUR and spend the extra twenty quid or so to get a genuine original Roku LT streaming media player that will allow you to ACCESS NETFLIX plus many other film & tv channels (incl. NowTV) as well as having the 'Plex' channel readily available via the channel store and will give you more than 775 EXTRA CHANNELS TO CHOOSE FROM when compared with the selection (currently) found on a NowTV Box.

*********************************************

Still, whether you happen to own a Roku player, a NowTV Box, OR BOTH, as I do... be sure to come back in seven days' time for my next 'Weekly RoundUp' and, if you can't wait that long, remember you can always keep up with all the UK Roku action (as it happens) throughout the coming week, by following the companion Twitter Feed: @ukrokuchannels where up-to-the-minute info on all things Roku-related (here in the UK) is posted on a daily basis (well, almost).

3 comments:

Any more word on an Amazon instant video app? Rumours around the web seem to suggest Sky being the reason this is not happening but I can't see why Sky would have veto on the Roku (the NowTv box, yes, Roku 3, no). Great blog BTW. Thanks for this valuable resource.

Thanks for your kind words and for taking the time & trouble to leave a comment. It's much appreciated.

I've heard nothing to suggest that we are any closer to seeing a UK version of the 'Amazon Instant Video' channel (currently featured on USA Roku players) to enable UK Amazon Prime members to stream 'Prime Instant Video' via a UK Roku player. Given that UK Roku owners have been asking for this (either as a 'LoveFilm' channel, or an 'Amazon Instant Video' channel) to be added to the Roku UK Channel Store ever since Roku launched their streaming media players in the UK (over two years ago) I would have expected a company like LoveFilm and/or Amazon to have done far more than is evident by now.

The fact that an 'Amazon Instant Video' channel is already in existence for the USA market, with the large part of any subsequent development for the UK market already in place as a consequence of this, means that someone needs to come clean with UK Roku owners as to why nothing has been done.

Since my 'Weekly RoundUp' posts (specifically #50 & #51) were published, I have asked both BSkyB and Amazon to comment on the allegations/rumours you mentioned and neither have produced any response. As I see it...

(i) IF Amazon UK and/or Amazon (as the parent company) DO NOT come forward and OFFICIALLY CONFIRM that there is any substance to the claim that BSkyB are actively blocking them from adding their 'Amazon Instant Video' channel to Roku players in the UK, then IT IS MOST LIKELY UNTRUE, and;

(ii) IF BSkyB DO NOT come forward and OFFICIALLY DENY that they are actively blocking Amazon UK and/or Amazon (as the parent company) from adding their 'Amazon Instant Video' channel to Roku players in the UK, then IT IS MOST LIKELY TRUE and must be investigated.

Either way someone needs to provide some answers to this and, if neither Amazon nor BSkyB are willing to do so voluntarily, Ofcom should be called upon to find out if anything untoward has been going on since, despite the fact that millions of dollars were invested in Roku from BSkyB, they ought not to be able to block competition on what is essentially an open platform.

Sky may wish to block Amazon from making their 'Amazon Instant Video' channel available on UK Roku players because the addition of another movie streaming service for Roku in the UK might further weaken the appeal of their NowTV Box (even though, IMHO, their own ring-fenced approach to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box is already doing just that).

What I don't understand is that, EVEN IF BSkyB ARE BLOCKING THEM from having 'Amazon Instant Video' added to the Roku UK Channel Store, WHY DON'T Amazon JUST CREATE A PRIVATE CHANNEL for UK Roku players AND PUBLISH THE ACCESS CODE so that UK Roku owners can add the 'Amazon Instant Video' channel to their streaming media players via their online Roku accounts and BYPASS THE ROKU UK CHANNEL STORE ALTOGETHER just like other channel developers do?!!

I AM more than HAPPY TO PUBLISH details of the ACCESS CODE FOR any such 'Amazon Instant Video' PRIVATE CHANNEL that may be developed VIA the pages of THIS BLOG so, if anyone from Amazon reads this and wants to take advantage of my offer, then please leave a comment !!

In conclusion, THERE IS NO REASON WHATSOEVER for Amazon NOT to be able TO PRODUCE an 'Amazon Instant Video' CHANNEL for UK Roku players because at the end of the day, if BSkyB (or anyone else) blocks them from having a "Public" channel in the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store, THEY CAN ALWAYS ADD AN 'Amazon Instant Video' PRIVATE CHANNEL. So, if you think about it, the only ones stopping 'Amazon Instant Video' from being added to UK Roku players are Amazon themselves and, that being the case, IT MUST BE DUE TO the imminent LAUNCH OF NEW AMAZON BOX for streaming media with Amazon seemingly about to keep 'Amazon Instant Video' back from other leading streaming devices (e.g. Roku, Chromecast, etc) to try and shift a few of their own.

My advice to Amazon UK would be to concentrate their efforts on the in-store date for the new Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI version) and pull out all the stops to get an 'Amazon Instant Video' channel into the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store by 21st April 2014 when the Roku Stick goes on sale.

The clock is ticking... so the next five weeks could prove to be interesting !!